The Lurlinemas Ball - A Wicked Advent Calendar
by danzingthrulife
Summary: Galinda is eager to celebrate Lurlinemas with Elphaba and Fiyero and she wants it to be perfect. But as so often, things don't always go the way we plan them. Shiz-Era, slight Fiyeraba implied.
1. December 1st

**Author's Note: Better starting late than never :D Also I am warning you that I will be rather imaginative with the Lurlinemas traditions. **

Snow had been falling steadily for a couple of days now, coating every wall, every roof and tower of Shiz University with a thick layer of icy powder.

It had come early this year, the last month of the year had only just begun.

"I love winter!", Galinda exclaimed dramatically, letting herself fall into the chair next to Fiyero.

"Everything looks so _clean _and bright!"

Fiyero had crossed his arms in front of his chest, buried deep in his thickest coat, despite sitting inside and disgruntedly mumbled something along the lines of "Too cold...wet...don't like..."

He wasn't used to snow, there was no such thing in the semi-desert climate of the Vinkus.

There was the occasional snowfall in the mountains surrounding Kiamo Ko, but his family usually only visited the castle there in the summer, when the weather became too hot to allow them to stay in the lower lands.

Galinda, on the other hand, came from much further north of the country and had been going sleigh riding before she had been able to sit up straight.

Elphaba was rather indifferent to the topic, she neither liked nor disliked the winter but she tended to like the crispness of the cold air and the way the snow made everything look like it was something different, it brought a certain mysteriousness with it.

"And the best thing about winter", Galinda continued, "is Lurlinemas!"

Fiyero blinked.

"Lurline-what?"

"Don't tell me you haven't ever heard of Lurlinemas!", Galinda gasped, eyes widened in surprise.

She turned to her roommate who was sitting at the other end of the table, her nose buried in a book as usual.

"Elphie, don't you dare tell me you don't know about Lurlinemas either!"

Elphaba placed a finger at the line she was reading before she looked up.

"Well, we used to celebrate it, back when, when my mother was still alive.

We've never celebrated since then. It's not really a common tradition in Munchkinland."

Galinda's jaw dropped in horror.

"You cannot tell me that the Gillikins are the only folks to celebrate Lurlinemas! It's even celebrated at Shiz! With a humongous ball on the evening before Lurlinemas Day!"

"A ball?"

"The most important event in the term, how could you not have been aware of it?"

"Might have to do with my over all very eager participation in social events like balls and parties, don't you think?", Elphaba scoffed.

"But you two just _have_ to celebrate Lurlinemas with me! With presents and decorations and sweets and everything that has to do with it! Promise!"

"If it makes you happy, I will celebrate it with you, but..."

"Oh, thank Oz, Elphie, you don't believe how much this means to me!", Galinda interrupted her and started bouncing up and down excitedly.

"What about you, Fiyero? _Fiyero_! Stop hibernating and tell me if you are going to celebrate with us!"

Fiyero growled something incomprehensible that Galinda simply took as a 'yes'.

"Brilliant! I have to start thinking of what to give to you _instantly_!"

She quickly hopped out of the room, leaving the grumpy Vinkun and her bemused roommate behind.

She was certain, this year they would have the best Lurlinemas celebration of all time.


	2. December 2nd

The conversation with Elphaba and Fiyero had made Glinda wonder if the two of them were the only ones not knowing about the Lurlinemas Ball.

Shiz wasn't greatly advertising it, as it was an old established tradition the school simply expected its students to know about.

Glinda spent the next day passing around a survey in class, demanding everyone to write down whether they were celebrating Lurlinemas and if they even knew about the Lurlinemas Ball.

When Glinda received back the sheet of paper, she was shocked to discover that indeed a great number of people was not intending on celebrating, neither the ball nor Lurlinemas in general.

"Elphie, you have to help me!"

Glinda rushed into the library energetically, making Elphaba jump in her seat.

"For Oz' sake, Glinda! You'll give me a heart attack one day! What's the matter?"

"Literally no one wants to celebrate Lurlinemas with me! It's horridulous", she complained whiningly and Elphaba sighed heavily.

"Are you still trying to force people to be festive? I really believe they have to get in the mood by themselves, it's nothing you can tell them to do."

"But most of them don't even know about the ball! Will you at least help me advertising the ball?"

"And what exactly did you have in mind?"

"I wondered if you might be willing to talk to Madame Morrible about officially announcing it?", Glinda explained slowly, showing her friend her best pleading look - wide eyes, knitting her brows ever so slightly and pouting her lips just a little bit.

"I'll see what I can do. But on one condition. Stop going around pestering everybody with your strange addiction to this holiday."

"You're the best, Elphie", Glinda said, thrilled to bits with anticipation of the holidays.

On the way to the Headmistress' office, Elphaba contemplated if she considered attending the ball despite of the fact that she would probably have to go by herself and eventually came to the conclusion that not attending would probably not be an option, at least not with Glinda and her feverish adoration of Lurlinemas celebrations.

"Enter, Miss Elphaba."

Elphaba pulled back the hand she had raised to knock at Madame Morrible's door. She would never get used to the teacher's sixth sense.

"Good afternoon, Miss Elphaba, how may I help you?"

"Good afternoon, Madame Morrible. Pardon my interrupting you at work but I'd like to ask a small favour concerning the upcoming Lurlinemas Ball."

She observed the fish-eyed Headmistress raise an eyebrow at her mentioning the ball.

"I didn't know you were so keen on festivities like this one."

"I, uhm, think it bears a good possibilty for socialising", Elphaba explained hastily, hoping the Headmistress wouldn't ask further.

"So, what would this favour be you came to ask me?"

"I wondered if it was possible to officially announce the ball to the student body, so the event might get more recognition. You see, not everybody is aware of the long established tradition of the Lurlinemas Ball."

Madame Morrible was silent for a moment.

"It is true that the ball has indeed lacked attendance in the last years. You think this is to accredit to the fact that some pupils don't know about the Lurlinemas holiday?"

"Yes, Madame. Maybe a public announcement will make more people curious."

"This seems like a terrificent idea, Miss Thropp, and although I am a little surprised by your sudden interest in social events, I very much appreciate your input, thank you."

"Thank you, too, Madame Morrible."

"Elphie, you're the best!", Glinda repeated her compliment from earlier after the public announcement of the Lurlinemas Ball had been made in the dining hall after lunch on the next day.

"Now we can start to think about outfits and, of course, presents!"

Glinda seemed to be distracted for a moment, then continued speaking.

"And I just decided I have to set you up with a nice gentleman to be your companion for the ball, Elphie, what do you think?"

"Don't you dare!", Elphaba shouted, horrified.

"It's enough that I have to attend this silly ball at all, I do most definitely not need a _companion_ that will most likely have the brain capacity of a bean! No, thank you, I appreciate the thought though."

Glinda looked slightly miffed at Elphaba's harsh rebuff.

"Well, I won't _force_ you, no need to be so cruel."

"Not force me, eh? I know you well enough by now that I know all the efforts you'd make just to get me a date I never actually asked for, so I need to nip this plan in the bud right away."

Glinda's look became puffed up as she nodded to another table at which Fiyero was sitting, joking with some of his friends.

"_I_ already have a date for the ball, I don't need to worry about this problem anymore, but fair enough, I won't interfere with your aversion against bean-brained companions."

Elphaba felt the slightest hint of jealousness creeping up inside of her.

Glinda already had the perfect boyfriend, and really, of all of the boys Elphaba knew at this school (though there weren't that many) only said boyfriend was actually considerable for ball-companionship in her eyes - for reasons she would never dare to inform her lightheaded roommate of.

And there was another reason she definitely didn't want Glinda to fix her up with anyone just for the fun of it.

No one would actually want to go out with her anyways.

Elphaba shooed away the cloudy thoughts and focused on another important question. What would she wear for the ball?

And just as the thought had formed in her mind, she flinched.

She had already been living in a room with Glinda for far too long.


	3. December 3rd

The perfect present.

Glinda knew that it would most definitely be very hard to find the perfect gift for her rather excentric roommate, but she was determined to give her friend the best Lurlinemas present she could find, to make Elphaba enjoy the holiday again.

The only problem was that she hadn't the faintest idea what Elphaba would like to have.

The most obvious choice was a book but then again, Elphaba already had so many books they barely fit on the shelf in their dorm room.

She would have to ask Fiyero, he probably had an idea.

"A book", he said drily which made Glinda sigh in frustration.

"But she already has so many books!"

"Believe me, darling, Elphaba never has enough books. It just depends on what is in the book. You can't just give her _any_ book."

"Fiyero, you are no help", Glinda grunted and walked away from her perplexed boyfriend.

It looked like she would have to find the perfect present herself.

Or maybe Nessarose could help.

Quickly, Glinda scurried across the dining hall to where Nessa was sitting with some friends.

"Hello Glinda, come sit down with us", the govenor's other daughter invited her.

"Thank you, Nessa dear, but I really only have a short question to ask you. I wondered if you might have a clue as to what Elphie would like to receive for her Lurlinemas present."

"Hm, I'm afraid I won't be much of a help with this question. We never celebrate Lurlinemas at home and I'm not really familiar with Elphaba's preferences.

Maybe a book or something will suffice."

Glinda was infuriated.

A book was such a dull gift!

And not even Elphaba's own sister was able to come up with a creative idea.

Glinda was certain: She would find the perfect present for Elphaba, no matter what it would take.

And this present was going to be much better than a book.


	4. December 4th

"Look, it's snowing again!"

Fiyero let out a frustrated grunt at his girlfriend's excitedness over something that was cold, wet and pricking like tiny needles when it met his skin.

"I honestly don't understand your fuss about this season, I could very well do without all of this snow."

"Oh Fiyero, stop being so grouchy, you just have to get to know how much fun winter can be!"

She tugged on his jacket and hesitantly, Fiyero followed the quirky blonde outside, putting his coat on while walking.

As they arrived at the glade behind the east wing of the school, Fiyero stopped and looked at Glinda questioningly.

"And what do we do now?"

"Have fun, of course! We're starting with building a snowman."

* * *

><p>Elphaba was on the way back from running some errands in town when she was suddenly struck in the face by something very wet and very cold.<p>

Startled and with a burning cheek, she turned around to see where it had come from.

"Elphie, come quick, we're going to show Fiyero that snow can be fun!"

"She must be joking", Elphaba muttered, disgruntled by the unexpected smack to the face.

Sometimes she wondered if Glinda never ever did something entirely careless, such as throwing a rather hard snowball at her unsuspecting roommate with full force.

Reluctantly, Elphaba made her way over to her friends, eyeing the results of Glinda's attempts to eradicate Fiyero's aversion against the winter.

On the clearing Elphaba discovered three snowmen, all rather crooked and alltogether not very pleasing to look at, several snow angels and a shivering Winkie prince, lips blue and nose red.

"S-so f-f-far, I d-don't re-e-ally li-i-ike it", Fiyero brought out between chattering teeth and Elphaba felt a wave of compassion coming over her.

"Glinda, what have you done to him? He's going to become an icicle!"

She hurried over to the freezing boy and took his hands into her gloved ones.

"And with bare hands too, Glinda, what have you been thinking? He's gonna catch his death out here!"

Glinda started to look a little concerned and walked over to the pair.

"Is it really that bad, dear?"

"N-n-n-no, I-I'm p-p-p-perfectly fi-i-ine", Fiyero stuttered.

"See, Elphie, everything is alright."

Elphaba gave her a disapproving glare and started dragging the stiff Fiyero towards the door.

Suddenly she was struck by another snowball.

She turned around infuriated, to see a grinning Glinda aim a second snowball at Fiyero.

The smack to the back of the head seemed to awaken the half-iced prince as he suddenly jumped around yelling "Hey!" and bowing down to grasp a handful snow to fire back at his girlfriend.

Glinda started cackling in a high pitched, hysterical tone as she suddenly found herself under attack from two sides.

"Stop! Help! Not in my face!", she yelped between snowballs and protectively raised her arms in front of her head.

Elphaba made use of Glinda not being able to see anything for a short moment and slowly creeped up to her roommate, both hands filled with snow.

The second Glinda took away her arms, Elphaba planted the fists full of snow in the blonde's face, sending her tumbling to the ground, shrieking with laughter.

Fiyero ran up to them and started shoveling snow onto Glinda's wriggling body until she was mostly covered in white powder.

"Two against one, that's not fair at all!", she exclaimed, panting, as she got up again, brushing the snow off of her clothes.

Fiyero and Elphaba were still laughing loudly at their friend who looked like she had fallen into a bowl of powdered sugar.

Glinda used their moment of unattentiveness and shoved a load of snow under the collar of Elphaba's coat.

As a result, Elphaba started wincing and squirming, trying to get the cold substance out from under her coat.

"You little beast! I'm going to take revenge for that!", she yelled and started chasing Glinda around the glade.

Huffing, they came to a halt in front of Fiyero again, faces flushed and sides burning from running and laughing.

"I don't even know when I played in the snow the last time", Elphaba exhaled, "must have been years."

"Well, I have to admit, that this has been a little bit of fun after all", Fiyero said, smiling at seeing the usually so stern Elphaba letting loose and having fun.

"See, I've told you, winter is magnificent!", Glinda said with an uppity attitude, but broke into a broad smile right after.

"I could really use some hot tea right now, though", Elphaba said, still breathing heavily.

"Me too", Fiyero and Glinda replied simultaneously and the three friends broke into laughter again.

The they stepped inside, leaving nothing but a snowfield full of footprints and a couple of crippled looking snowmen.


	5. December 5th

"Would you hand me the other box of star ornaments, please?", Elphaba demanded from her space on a chair in the dining hall.

She had been elected to put up the star ornaments around the hall as she was taller than most of the girls in her year.

Fiyero walked by, swinging a broom over his shoulder.

"Reporting to cleaning duty! I gotta say, the witch I stole this thing from was not very pleased."

He broke into laughter about his own joke and then watched Elphaba struggling to pin up the ornaments.

After a few seconds she turned around, annoyed.

"You do know that you will actually have to start cleaning at some point, right?"

"Not if I can put it off for a little."

"Fiyero, start sweeping", Elphaba commanded, pointing to the black and brown checkered floor of the dining hall.

Halfheartedly, Fiyero started sweeping around, not moving from the spot he was standing in.

Elphaba started to get impatient.

"Have you never cleaned anything before?"

The moment she saw Fiyero's sheepish grin, she already knew the answer.

"Of course not, your royal highness, come on, hand this thing over."

As she took the broom out of Fiyero's hands, she noticed how warm they were in contrast to her frigid ones.

"Wow, you've got cold hands", he stated.

So he had noticed as well.

Quickly, Elphaba withdrew her hands.

"No wait, let me warm them up a bit."

Immediately, he took her hands into his again and started rubbing them from the outside.

Elphaba felt her heart beat faster.

This was such a gentle gesture, so unlike Fiyero's usual gruff behaviour.

He is Glinda's boyfriend, she reminded herself.

Suddenly, a loud shriek disrupted the quiet murmuring of the dining hall.

"_Snow Trumpets_!"

"Glinda, why in Oz's name are you yelling like that?", Elphaba said disapprovingly, as her friend approached at a fast pace, her finger pointed at something above their heads.

"Snow. Trumpets", she repeated sharply and Elphaba noticed that her usually gleeful expression had been replaced by a rather sour one.

"I heard that the first time, what do you mean?"

"You _two_. Have you already done it?"

"Done what?", Fiyero asked irritated.

Only then Elphaba noticed that he was still absentmindedly rubbing her hands and quickly took them away.

"_Kissed_, of course, you sillyheads!"

"Why would we..."

Glinda didn't let Elphaba finish, she took her head in both hands and turned it upwards.

"Because you're standing under a branch of Snow Trumpets, that's why! It means you have to kiss! An ancient Lurlinemas custom."

"Oh."

Elphaba suddenly felt as if the room had turned several degrees warmer.

"I-, uhm, Fiyero is your boyfriend, shouldn't _you_..."

"No", Glinda snapped, much to her roommate's surprise.

"But-"

"It's Lurlinemas tradition. Whoever ends up under the Snow Trumpets has to kiss or otherwise there will be misfortune upon those who haven't kissed until the day of Lurlinemas. So go ahead, kiss already, I really want this party to be great and I can't have both of you being unlucky during the preparations."

Elphaba turned around and looked at Fiyeeo.

He replied with a little shrug.

"Well then."

Fiyero observed Elphaba's face as she averted her gaze to the floor and her cheeks were suddenly flushed by a notably darker shade of green.

"You aren't blushing right now, are you?", he grinned and took her hands again.

"Miss Elphaba Thropp, may I kiss you in the name of the Snow Trumpets so the Lurlinemas celebration will be saved?"

Elphaba's face was burning and her heart rate had increased to a dangerously fast pace.

Why did it have to be _him_?!

She felt herself nodding and a moment later, Fiyero's lips were on hers.

It was short and sweet, not at all like she had imagined her first kiss to go down.

But then again, she hadn't imagined her first kiss to be in the middle of the university dining hall, in front of several people and most importantly, she didn't think it would be given to her by her best friend's boyfriend, _with_ her approval!

"I- have to leave now", she brought out and then escaped from the scene, leaving behind a baffled Glinda and a smug looking Fiyero.

"She likes me", he announced and made Glinda swat at him.

"She does not! You're _my_ boyfriend!"

"You are aware of the fact that you just encouraged us to kiss, are you?"

Glinda looked at him as if he was acting particularly dumb.

"But it was under a branch of Snow Trumpets, you _had_ to kiss, don't you understand?"

"To be honest, I haven't fully gotten behind your strange Lurlinemas customs yet but I must say, I do like this one."

He turned around the room as if searching for his next victim.

"Hey, anyone want to step under the Snow

Trumpets with me?"

He grinned as he elicited an angry grunt from Glinda and finally pulled her in under the branch of white flowers.

"Better be sure we have a portion of extra luck for your Lurlinemas Ball, don't you think?"


	6. December 6th

"Ugh, I'm never going to find the right dress!"

Frustrated, Elphaba put off the dress that she had been trying on.

"You really do clash with a lot of colours", Glinda admitted emphatically and hung the dress back on the rack.

The two of them had, like a lot of other Shiz students, gone to the town to find the right attire for the Lurlinemas Ball.

Glinda had dragged Elphaba along after the latter had protested that she didn't want to buy a new dress because she could still just wear her plain green frock.

"You are not going to turn up at the ball wearing _that_ thing again!", Glinda had blurted out indignantly.

"Haven't you learned anything from me?"

They had decided to look at dresses in a boutique called 'Tupitta's Dresses, Gowns and More'.

So far, Elphaba had tried on gowns in various shades of green (because according to Glinda, nothing went as good with green like another shade of green), but the shades available all looked like something mouldy or were an unnatural colour that clashed horribly with Elphaba's skin that had more of a grass-green hue.

Next, she had tried on a red gown ("It is the complementary colour of green, this is surely going to look great!").

Sadly, this one looked even more horrendous than the first few.

They went through a couple of other colours then, purple, blue and even a pink one Glinda insisted on, but nothing looked quite right.

"I'm giving up", Elphaba said with an exhausted sigh.

"Let's search for Fiyero then", Glinda said,

"I'm not entirely sure if he is capable of picking a suiting attire for the ball by himself. Also I want to make sure he matches my dress."

She had picked a moss coloured ball gown, floor length flowing fabric and with beaded straps and corset.

They found Fiyero in another boutique several stores down the street, standing

in front of a rack full of jackets, looking a little clueless.

"See, we've come at exactly the right time", Glinda noted and hurried to Fiyero's side to assist him.

As they had finally found the desired perfect outfit, Fiyero noticed that Elphaba wasn't carrying a box from any boutique.

"Haven't you found anything yet?"

"Nothing matches me", Elphaba explained with an apologetic shrug, displeased to find that her heartrate had increased the second he had starting talking to her.

"You know, I _did_ happen to come across a dress earlier that made me think how great you would look in it."

"You, uh, you did?", Elphaba said unbelieveingly, slightly embarrassed that she even needed the help of two people to find anything she could wear.

She cleared her throat.

"So, where did you find it?"

"In the store next door, let's go right over and check if I was right once I've paid."

Moments later, the three friends had made their way over to the third store of the day and Fiyero sought out the dress he had discovered while strolling through the shop in search of a suit jacket.

"There!", he exclaimed triumphantly and quickly walked over to where the dress was hung up.

"It is _gorgeous_!", Glinda squealed once she laid eye on the gown, that was simple but magnificent in its simplicity.

It was made of a black fabric but shimmering with different tinges of green, blue and purple, depending on which way it was met by the light.

The corset of the dress was covered in lacey fabric and didn't have straps.

"Fiyero, this is...perfect!", Elphaba brought out, stunned by the beauty of the gown and by the fact that she actually wanted to wear it.

"Try it on, try it on!", Glinda urged her, excitedly scurrying from foot to foot.

Elphaba obeyed and took the gown to the adjoining changing room.

When she stepped out again, both Glinda and Fiyero's jaws dropped.

"Wow", Fiyero blurted out.

Glinda said nothing at first.

Then Elphaba observed her smile grow wider and wider.

"Elphie, you look _fantastic_!"

"I'm not sure if I also feel fantastic, I'm not used to dresses like this."

"But have you had a look at yourself yet? This quite possibly is the prettiest thing I've ever seen you wearing, no offence!"

"I have to agree", Fiyero tossed in.

"And you have to admit, Glinda, my taste in clothes is impeccable."

"It is, it is, but now, Elphie, you have to look at yourself in the mirror!"

"I suppose I can risk a look, if you insist."

As she stepped in front of the mirror, she couldn't believe her eyes.

The dress complimented her skin colour, made it glow and not look so disturbing.

It hugged her slender figure and emphasised her tallness in a flattering manner.

There was no other word for it, it was perfect.

And most importantly, Fiyero had picked it out and that made it even more perfect.


	7. December 7th

Boq was wandering restlessly around the shops and stores on the main street of the little town.

If only he could find a good gift!

It had to be something simple yet thoughtful, something that indicated romance, but not too much, just something that would be perfect for...

Then he saw it.

He had almost looked over it, as it was lying next to several other shiny objects.

A necklace with a tiny lapis lazuli pendant, bordered with several small clear crystals.

This was the ideal present!

She would love him for giving it to her.

Eagerly, Boq waved over the shop owner.

"I would love to purchase this necklace, Sir."

The elderly jeweler gave him a smile.

"I persume this is a Lurlinemas present for a special someone?"

Boq nodded hesitantly and suddenly felt slightly guilty.

"You can never go wrong with jewelry. Either she will accept it as a symbol of your undying love for her or it will win her heart for good if you haven't yet so far."

As the latter was the case, Boq felt a bit more reassured again.

The jeweler handed him a small box tied neatly with a red ribbon.

"Thank you, Sir, have a nice day", Boq said and exited the jewelry shop.

On the street again, he was nearly run over by Nessarose, who looked at him surprised and then smiled knowingly.

"Hello Boq, dear, have you been looking for presents as well?"

Boq got a little nervous and tried to hide the jewelry box inside his pocket.

"Er, yes, indeed, I have."

"And who is the jewelry going to be for?", Nessa asked curiosly and nodded to the shop they were standing in front of.

"I, I can't tell you that, Nessa. It's a secret."

Nessa didn't notice the defensive undertone and looked into her lap, blushing.

"Oh Boq, you're so sweet, you don't have to pretend that the jewelry isn't for me."

I'm not pretending, Boq thought, starting to panic.

What should he do now?

He couldn't just go ahead and tell his girlfriend that he had bought an expensive present for another girl!

"Well, maybe I haven't bought jewelry", Boq started to explain, desperately trying to keep a loophole for him in this dilemma.

"Maybe I have bought something in another shop."

"Don't be silly, I saw you coming out of the jeweler's", Nessa laughed and Boq started sweating.

His plan had most certainly backfired.

"But I shall see on the morning of Lurlinemas what little secret you have been hiding, my dear Boq. Are we going to have supper together tonight?"

"Of course, Nessa, anything you wish."

"I will see you later then."

With that, she rolled off, followed by a couple of her girlfriends who had observed the previous scene from a little distance, giggling and chattering.

Boq pondered about the serious trouble he had gotten himself into.

He had two options.

Either he would buy another piece of jewelry for Nessa, or he would have to find another present for his true love.

But the neclace wasn't meant for Nessa and he didn't have enough money to purchase another piece of jewelry.

Resignedly, he started strolling back in the direction of Shiz.

He would have to come up with a solution sooner or later.

But how?


	8. December 8th

As Boq arrived back at Shiz, he still hadn't been able to find a proper solution for his dilemma.

On the way to his room, he passed the library, in which he saw Elphaba sit at a table and Glinda walking around the table, chatting away more or less to herself.

She was so sweet!

She deserved to get her perfect gift.

He would think of something else for Nessa.

Out of an impulse, he took the necklace out of the packet.

Yes, this was indeed a marvellous fit for Glinda.

"Hello, Boq."

The Munchkin jumped, nearly dropping the precious jewelry, as Fiyero had appeared next to him out of nowhere.

"Beautiful necklace you have there, do you intend to wear it to the Lurlinemas Ball?"

Fiyero's ostensibly calm tone alarmed Boq.

"I-i-it's a present. Fo-or _someone_."

"For Nessa?"

Boq cringed.

He feared that this question would come up. If he said yes now, Nessa was going to definitely find out about him supposedly giving her this necklace because Fiyero talked to Glinda, Glinda was friends with Elphaba and Elphaba adored her little sister.

Besides, if Glinda found out what he was supposedly giving to Nessa and he later ended up giving the necklace to her, she would quite probably be offended.

"It's- not for Nessa", he admitted and he saw Fiyero's eyebrows go up.

"Not for Nessa as in you're planning to give the jewelry to somebody else?"

Boq wondered how believable it would sound if he told Fiyero he was giving it to his mother.

"Yes, for Oz' sake, I'm giving it to someone else. I hope you'll stay discrete about this, I know that you're friends with Nessa's sister and if she finds out, all sorts of pain will be inflicted on me so I'm hoping for this to be kept a secret between two guys?"

He prayed to every god he knew that Fiyero would keep his mouth shut.

"Of course, Boq, no big deal, a secret between two men."

"Thank you", Boq said relieved and took off before Fiyero could pose any more questions.

* * *

><p>"<em>Boq<em>! How _dare_ you!"

Fiyero, that big tattletale! Boq ducked his head as Nessa continued yelling at him.

"Buying jewelry for another girl, you unfaithful swine!"

To say that she was upset was the understatement of the year.

Red with anger she had rolled into his room and almost scared him to death.

"You can find someone else to go to the ball with now, I don't need the company of someone who buys pricey presents for everyone except his girlfriend!"

Nessa was flying into fury and Boq contemplated if it actually was a good idea to correct her saying that he hadn't bought presents for _everyone_.

"In fact, I'm going to ask someone right now!"

"Who?", slipped out of Boq's mouth.

"Maurix! Just so you know, he had shown interest in going with me in the first place and I was foolish enough to turn him down because I thought I had a boyfriend!"

Her voice almost doubled over and she took a deep breath.

"While you haven't even bothered to officially ask me out yet. But there's no need for _that_ anymore. Do what you want, Boq. Why don't you ask that other girl to the ball, eh?"

She whirled around and left him sitting alone at his desk, thinking about the opportunity that had just opened up for him.

Now he was actually free to ask Glinda to go to the ball with him!

Nessa would calm herself sooner or later and come back to him after the ball was over, she was too convinced of her theory of them deserving each other to not try and get back together with him.

In the meantime he could seize this great possibility and go with Glinda!

But how would he accomplish that?

He had to somehow make sure that she would have to go with him and avoid her making plans with Fiyero at the same time.

Maybe if he could get the wimpy Winkie prince out of the way somehow...

Boq was determined to find a way of tricking Glinda into being his date for the Lurlinemas Ball and nothing would get him off his new plan anymore.


	9. December 9th

"You two are awfully unconcentrated today. Not that would be unusual for you, Miss Upland, but I expected better from _you_, Miss Thropp."

Madame Morrible wasn't too pleased with the lack of focus on her teachings.

The two girls attending her sorcery tutoriak were constantly trying to drag the focus on holiday centred charms and spells but she was having none of this nonesense!

Her tutorial was a serious business, no time for joking around like pre-schoolers!

"Pardon us, Madame", Elphaba said excusingly, and tried to concentrate on the spell Madame Morrible had spent the better part of the lesson teaching to them.

"_Maiorem terranum basica humioli peiora_!"

As desired, the pot of soil on the table in front of the girls started sprouting a flower that blossomed in the matter of seconds.

"Oh look at it, it's beautiful!", Glinda exclaimed excitedly, admiring the splendid apricot coloured bloom.

"Miss Upland, stop getting distracted and perform the spell yourself, _please_."

"Sure, excuse me. _Maioram terrarum basica humus..."_

_"_No, no, no, stop!", Madame Morrible interrupted her.

Glinda realised that instead of building roots and a stem, the soil in the pot had started multiplying and tumbling out of it.

"How often have I told you that the wrong pronounciation or slightest alteration of the words can be fatal for the meaning of the charm! It is _maiorem, _not_ 'maioram', 'terranum' _not_ 'terrarum' _and_ 'humioli' _not_ 'humus-something'. _Now repeat the spell. Correctly, this time, if possible."

The headmistress' tirade was dripping with contempt for her terribly untalented student.

"_Maioram terran_..."

"No! _Maiorem_! Is there nothing but air in your head! Concentrate!"

"Oh, Madame Morrible, can't we do something festivity related instead? Spells for everlasting candles, how to enchant decoration to put itself up..."

"Actually, I have already taken care of that", Elphaba murmured inbetween and quickly shut her mouth again as she saw Madame Morrible give her a depreciating side glance.

"We will do no such thing, Miss Upland, you have been chosen to study the fine arts of sorcery and not some shenanigans for your entertainment. Now on with the plant growing spell!"

Huffed, Glinda repeated the spell, correctly this time and a violet flower blossomed in her pot.

"Pretty!", she mouthed, mesmerised by the rich colour.

Meanwhile, Elphaba had been flipping through Madame Morrible's spellbook ever so subtly to try and find some holiday related charms after all.

She found that she wasn't able to pronounce half of the words and quickly put the book aside again.

It looked like she had to improvise some more with the spells she had already learned.

After the lesson was over, Glinda let out a frustrated groan.

"The headmistress is going to drive me insane one of these days! She keeps nagging at me, although I'm not even _very_ bad."

"Well, looks like 'not very bad' is just not good enough for our dear Madame Morrible", Elphaba noted.

"But I have an idea as to how we can still benefit from this class _and_ contribute something to your Lurlinemas celebration."

"You have? Let's hear then!"

"Do you remember the spell we learned to change the taste of a bitter pill?"

Glinda grimaced.

"How could I forget this debacle."

"Well, I figure it is possible to use it for other substances as well, speaking of food and beverages. We could serve usual tea and spice it up with a little magic."

"Miss Elphaba Thropp, so rebellious lately, I like that!", Glinda nodded approvingly.

"You do realise I was speaking of spicing up the flavour, as in making plain herb tea taste like Lurlinemas candy, do you?"

"Whichever you meant, I am still marvelling at your engagement."

"I guess, I just want you to have a nice celebration."

"Admit it, you like Lurlinemas."

"I'm quite indifferent to it, to be honest."

"You love it."

"Alright, fine, I _do_ like it. Are you satisfied now?"

Glinda grinned.

"Of course I am, Elphie. Come on, let's have some spiced up tea in the dining hall."

"You know I still occasionally loathe you, right?"

"Whatever you say."


	10. December 10th

On a quiet afternoon, Elphaba decided it was time for her to go and find some Lurlinemas presents for her friends and Nessa.

She had been strolling through the little shops in the town for two hours and had found presents for Nessa and Glinda so far.

For Nessa, she had decided on a studded hairslide that perfectly matched her beloved jeweled shoes.

The present for Glinda had been harder to find, but ulitmately, Elphaba had been lucky in an antique shop, where she happened to come across a gorgeous display of various perfume flacons.

She had chosen a diamond shaped one, with the glass tinted pink and a vaporiser from which a neatly worked metal feather was dangling as a decoration.

She was sure that Glinda would be thrilled about this present.

But the thing that really posed difficulties was the present for Fiyero.

She didn't have any idea what to give to him.

Everything she could think of sounded too vapid or like she cared too much.

The latter of which was actually true, she had to admit to herself after a little while.

She wanted to give him a good present, something that wasn't just a present for the sake of giving him one but something that he'd really enjoy. Something witty and smart.

As she came by the flower shop, an idea struck her.

Minutes later she stepped out of the shop again, carefully carrying a small packet.

I hope this is a good idea, she thought, as she headed back to the university.

In the hallway she ran into Fiyero who was lingering around as usual.

She withheld the impulse to hide the package, to not make him suspicious of it.

"Elphaba, I need to talk to you for a second!"

"Oh, of course, can I help you with something?"

"I'm desperate. I've thought really hard about this for a really long time and believe me, this is something I don't do very often, but I still can't come up with a good idea for a present for Glinda."

He looked so clueless that Elphaba almost felt a little sorry for him.

"Well, I think you have multiple options, actually.

You can never go wrong with something sweet and romantic, girls like Glinda adore that.

Then you could just try and find something she is passionate about.

A present is something that's coming from your heart, so anything with a little thought is great."

"I think I get what you mean. What are you giving her anyways?"

Elphaba pulled the carefully wrapped flacon out of her bag and showed it to him.

"This is nice! What is in the other package though?"

"Oh, I can't tell you that", Elphaba declared, "it's your present."

"_Mine_? You're giving me something too?"

"Of course", Elphaba laughed.

"But, that, that means I have to find a present for you as well!"

"Looks like you better put some more of your brains to this, my dear."

With that, Elphaba left the confused behind and carried her purchases up to her room with a smile on her face.


	11. December 11th

Elphaba couldn't sleep.

Outside, a snow storm was raging, rattling the window shutters and howling like someone in pain.

She put a light in the lantern on her bedstand ans got out of her bed.

As soon as her feet hit the ground, the cold was creeping inside her legs and she started shivering.

It was freezing in the dorm room.

She quickly put on a robe and shoes and left the room as quietly as possible.

As she was drowsily walking through the corridors, she wondered how her roommate was even able to sleep so peacefully, with a storm like this rumbling above them.

As she walked, the flickering light of her lantern casted bizarre shadows on the walls, but Elphaba wasn't scared of them anymore, she had been walking these corridors by night too often already.

She ultimately arrived at the library, her favourite space in the whole of Shiz University.

The librarian had long since given her a key, because Elphaba was frequenting the library more than her own room.

She set the lantern down on a table and fired up the little oven in the corner.

Then she wandered about the rows of books, searching for any title that caught her eye.

Eventually, she settled for a book titled 'A Christmas Carol'.

She had never heard the word 'Christmas' before nor could she think of its origin. Maybe the book was from another land?

That wouldn't be something happening too seldomly in the humongous variety of books Shiz' University library had to offer.

After having read a couple of verses from what seemed to be something poetry-like, she realised that whatever this 'Christmas' was, employed similar customs like Lurlinemas.

Elphaba got entangled quickly in the story, fascinated with the ghosts and the bitterness of the main character.

She was so captured by her lecture that she didn't notice someone coming up behind her.

When the person suddenly put their hand on her shoulder, she flinched and let out a small scream.

"I didn't mean to startle you, I'm sorry!"

"Fiyero, what in Oz are you doing here at this time!"

"I might as well ask you the same question, Miss Thropp."

Elphaba vaguely pointed at the window.

"The storm. I couldn't get a wink of sleep."

"See, the same goes for me. And then I dared to look out of the window and I saw a light flickering down here. I knew it could only be you."

"You...did?"

Elphaba was honestly surprised.

Had he been aware of her nightly trips to the library?

"You are the only person I know who is crazy enough about books to sit in the library in the middle of the night."

"It helps me get tired when I can't sleep", Elphaba explained defensively.

"I completely understand, but wouldn't it be much easier to just sit up in bed and read there? I'm sure you have half of the library up there anyways."

"It's not the same. I have already read every single book I own, but down here the book supply seems to be endless. A new world for me to discover everytime I visit."

"That...actually sounds very nice", Fiyero noted and they both were quiet for a moment, the fire subtly worked away in the oven.

"Nice nightgown, by the way", Fiyero remarked awkwardly to break the silence.

Elphaba, however, could have well done without this compliment as it made her cheeks flush.

She had completely forgotten in what kind of ridiculous attire she currently walked around!

"Thank you, I - think", she replied as indifferent as possible, cautiously avoiding his look.

"I suppose we should try to go back to sleep again", Elphaba suggested after another short conversation pause and flipped the book shut.

Then she extinguished the fire in the oven and sweeped up her lantern.

"Let's go."

She carefully locked the library door again and started walking into the direction of her dorm room.

"Elphaba, wait, you have to look at this!"

She turned around and stepped next to Fiyero, who was looking at something outside of the window.

"Look at how beautiful it is!"

"And that is coming from the Vinkun that lives in the desert!", Elphaba mocked him.

But it was true, the storm had mostly calmed down and had left a wonderfully smooth and sparkling layer of thick snow and ice on everything.

The snow went so high it even covered part of the window and there were long icicles hanging from every edge.

"Maybe winter isn't that bad after all", Fiyero said and Elphaba grinned.

"Glinda will be thrilled to hear that."

"Don't you dare tell her I said that, I won't ever be able to stay inside again! Promise me you won't tell her!"

"I promise", Elphaba answered seriously and gave him a woeful smile.

The fact that he was Glinda's boyfriend made this whole situation so difficult!

All that she could think of since the incident with the snow trumpets was the feeling of Fiyero's lips on hers and everytime she looked at him, a wave of affection ran through her body.

"I think I should go now", she said and Fiyero nodded.

"I should go as well. Have a good night, and sweet dreams!"

"Sweet dreams to you, too", Elphaba laughed and made her way back to her dorm with her heart beating fast.


	12. December 12th

On the next morning, every student in Shiz marvelled at the enormous amounts of snow that had fallen in the previous night. In fact, the load of snow was so heavy that the large front portal couldn't be opened anymore, neither could any other door or window on the ground level.

"We're snowed in!", Glinda complained enraged. "I was planning on going to town today! I can't be stuck here now!"

"Looks like you're going to have to put up with the fact that nobody will come or go from this place today", Elphaba lectured her.

Glinda grunted with displeasure and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Fine. So what do we do now?"

"We could play a game", Fiyero suggested.

"A game?"

"I spy with my little eye, something white and cold."  
>"Very funny. Do you even have all your Lurlinemas presents together already? I thought you were going to go buy yours today as well?", Glinda teased her boyfriend.<p>

"That is true, but unlike you, I don't have a heap of social events to appear at, hence I have a lot of time left to look for gifts", Fiyero retorted cheekily.  
>"Touché", Glinda replied listless and laid her arms and head on the table in front of her.<p>

"I wish something would just come and swoop all that snow away."

All of a sudden, she jerked up energetically.

Neither Fiyero nor Elphaba reacted surprised as they were used to Glinda's antics.

"I'll be right back", the blonde announced and left the common room without any further explanation. 

After a while she strutted back into the room, a triumphant grin spread across her face.  
>"I fixed it."<br>"Fixed what?", Elphaba asked dumbfounded.  
>"The snow issue."<br>"But what did you need to fix about that?"  
>Elphaba sounded concerned, which threw Glinda off a little bit.<p>

"Elphie, I simply need the time to go to the town _today,_ I can't sit around here all day, so I took care of the problem."  
>"How do you think you did that?"<br>"I magicked it away."  
>"You did <em>what<em>?!", Elphaba exclaimed alarmed.  
>"This was typical of her roommate, she always acted without thinking first.<br>"But Glinda, we haven't even talked about that in the tutorial and with all the things you pronounced wrong last time, you know how fatal that can end!"  
>Elphaba was furious. Why did her friend always have to act so irresponsibly?!<br>The other people in the common room started mumbling and pointing out the window.  
>Glinda looked around nervously, the grin wiped off her face.<br>"It's snowing again", someone said.  
>"I've never seen snowflakes this big!", someone else said.<p>

"And they're falling so thickly and so fast!", a third person threw in and slowly, the room filled with oohs and aahs of people looking out the windows.  
>"Oh Glinda, what have you done?"<br>"I- I tried to reduce the snow, not make it fall faster", Glinda uttered nervously.

"Did you confuse 'maiorem' and 'maioram' again? You know that 'maioram' makes things increase, do you? Have you used a spell that had that word in it?"  
>"I might have...?", Glinda whined guiltily and looked to the ground.<br>"Good, at least I can try and reverse it then."  
>Elphaba muttered a chant, but the snow didn't stop falling.<p>

"Hm, it doesn't seem to work", she declared, looking sorry for her friend's misfortune.  
>"How high are the chances for Madame Morrible finding out it was me?", Glinda asked distraught.<br>"Considering that there are only two students in her tutorial, only one of which doesn't know the difference between spells, I fear the luck is not on your side with this one."

As if Elphaba's prognosis needed to be underlined, Madame Morrible burst into the room.  
>"Miss Glinda Upland, what in Oz have you done?!"<p> 


	13. December 13th & 14th

**A/N: Sorry for not posting yesterday, it was a busy day :/**

"I- I- thought..."

"Well, you thought, you thought, you thought _nothing_, that's what you thought! This is the most irresponsible thing that any student of mine has ever done and believe me, Miss Upland, I have seen a lot of stupidious things in my life already!"

Madame Morrible's voice was ringing in Glinda's ears.

She hadn't meant to cause this much of a mess!

"As you're surely aware, this building has seen quite a few years by now and your little experiment nearly made the roof collapse under the weight of the snow. I was able to prevent any more increasement of snowfall, thank Oz."

"I really didn't mean to..."

"It does _not_ matter if you wanted this or not, this circus that has been going on around here over the impending holidays, is something I will not tolerate any longer!"

By now, the entire common room was listening to the headmistress' tirade.

"What do you mean, Madame?", someone asked.

"What I mean is, I am not going to allow _any_ further preparations for the Lurlinemas Ball nor anything else that is related to this holiday. It is officially _cancelled_."

She turned around and left the room with flowing robes.

The students remained in silence for a little while, processing what had just happened.

Then, the uproar broke loose.

"Is this serious?!"

"Can she just _cancel_ Lurlinemas?"

"Well, she can here!"

"I think I might go home for the holidays earlier then."

"This is so unfair, who is responsible for this?"

"Glinda Upland, from the first year."

"I always thought she was so smart and perfect?!"

The longer the students discussed the scene that had just unrolled before their eyes, the more audible became the common opinion, obtained by one student after another.

"This is all Glinda's fault."

The petite blonde stood on the side of the room, accompanied by Elphaba and Fiyero, looking as heartbroken as ever.

"I have destroyed Lurlinemas", she whispered, on the verge of bursting into tears.

"If you had just chosen the right spell..."

Elphaba's words were accusing but her voice sounded compassionate.

Little by little, students started passing by the trio and spitefully glaring at Glinda or even tossing some hateful words at her.

"Enough!", Elphaba finally exclaimed and climbed on the nearest chair.

"Stop treating Glinda like a piece of rubbish, all she was trying to do was elevating the snow so _you people_ could go and buy presents! No need to attack her now!"

"Shut up, Greenie, don't try and defend her, she messed up this time!"

Elphaba didn't let them discourage her.

"Maybe she messed up but it was for your own good!"

"Well, now nobody's happy either so she might as well have done nothing!"

"Now that's just nonsense!"

Elphaba was getting mad at her fellow students for being so harsh with Glinda whom they usually adored so much.

"Who asked you, anyways?", someone shouted and the rest started agreeing.

"Yes, can't she defend herself?"

Elphaba glanced at her miserable roommate who was standing in a corner, protected by Fiyero, tears glimmering in her eyes.

Elphaba met eyes with the Vinkun and he nodded.

"Elphaba is right", he said, raising his voice over the disgruntled crowd, "Glinda only tried to help. Besides, who of you would even have the brains to perform any magic spell at all?"

"Obviously, there is not much brains necessary if Glinda can do it!"

They really were angry.

Usually, not even the people who didn't like Glinda said anything against her openly.

Elphaba tried to think of anything to say so she could ease the hatred against her friend.

"It was my idea! She simply was the one acting it out."

"Typical", someone snorted.

"I knew that Glinda wasn't that stupid."

"So it's your fault, you better find a way to fix this, Greenie."

Wow, they really were happy to have found another scapegoat so fast, Elphaba thought.

She tried to ignore the fact that the students had been more than willing to believe her flimsy excuse, as long as it provided them with one more reason to hate her.

"I don't know how to thank you", Glinda muttered in a tearful voice.

"Don't mention it, they'll always much rather loathe me than you, so this was an easy way out."

"You really do have a thick skin", Fiyero stated appreciatorily.

"I have to say, it's more that I've gotten used to it by now, I don't really care anymore."

The three started heading out of the common room, where most of the students were still discussing the holiday fiasco.

"So, now the question is, how are we going to make this Lurlinemas celebration happen?"


	14. December 15th

"Madame, you just _have_ to reconsider your decision!"

"I have to admit, I have expected better of you, Miss Thropp. I hadn't thought that you would let them make you their puppet. Sucking up to me through my best student, nice strategy, I have to admit."

Startled, Elphaba looked at the headmistress.

"No, I- I just..."

She stopped.

Now why exactly did she feel the need to convince the teacher of letting all those people who hated her so much have their fun?

"I just think that it would get up the students' enthusiasm for the next year. If they don't get the ball, they will already come back disgruntled and unmotivated."

Elphaba silently pleaded that Madame Morrible would believe her explanation.

She observed her raise her eyebrows into a critical stance and tried not to move a muscle of her face.

"You think that they would be more _motivated_?!"

The headmistress broke into roaring laughter.

"Believe me, Miss Elphaba, besides you and maybe two or three other outstanding young people I have never in my whole career come across a motivated student.

Not even after a good Lurlinemas Celebration."

She grew serious again.

"The prohibition stands, no one at this University will celebrate Lurlinemas this year, I give you my word for it.

Now, if you please leave, I have got plenty of more important things to do than discussing minuscule social events that get fussed over too much anyways.

You might want to think about why exactly you care so much about this particular social event. You're usually the last one complaining over a cancelled ball. Have a nice day, Miss Thropp."

Madame Morrible more or less pushed Elphaba out the door and locked it once the green girl was outside.

Elphaba thought about what Madame Morrible had said at the end of their conversation.

Like the first time she had talked to the Headmistress about the ball, Madame Morrible had expressed her wonderment about Elphaba's concern with the event.

What was it that she found so utterly important about this ball?

Maybe the most important reason was the fact that Glinda had looked forward to it so much.

But that wasn't the sole reason.

This time, the party would _include_ her, she would have Glinda's assistance with dressing up, this time she had this magnificent dress and she had friends to attend the ball with.

Elphaba came to the conclusion that she might have cared about all the seemingly superficial things all along, even more than she thought she had.

Only, that she had suppressed this feeling because she had known that she would be the laughing stock of every party or sit alone in the corner with no one to talk to.

But since she had come to Shiz, since that fateful night at the Ozdust Ballroom and the strange incident with the lion cub, a lot had changed.

She was still the same, mostly, reserved, passionate about her interests, admittedly a bookworm and still convinced that inner values counted more than looks, but somehow, ever so slightly, she had started to belong.


	15. December 16th

On the way back from Madame Morrible's scriptorium, Elphaba desperately tried to think of an idea that would make the Lurlinemas Ball possible after all.

Maybe they could hold it elsewhere?

But where?

There surely wasn't a space as large as the dining hall anywhere else around, and the next larger town was too far away to set up a ball at.

The only thing Elphaba knew for sure was that Glinda wouldn't be happy if the ball and the further Lurlinemas celebrations didn't take place.

Therefore she was determined to find a way.

It would be a much better present than anything she could buy for her friend.

Her feet had naturally carried Elphaba to the library, the place where her brain usually worked best.

She strolled to her usual place at the large table and sat down, pondering over the problem at hand.

As her mind lost itself a little due to the lack of ideas, it started swirling around the little encounter with Fiyero two nights earlier and how strange it had been being with him all alone in the dark library...

But something else suddenly sprung into her thoughts.

The book!

The book she had been reading about this strange celebration from another world that seemed so much like Lurlinemas!

Suddenly electrified, Elphaba hurried to the librarian's desk.

"Pardon me, do you have any more books about Christmas than 'A Christmas Carol'?"

The librarian looked at her blankly, obviously not understanding her.

"It's quite possibly with the copies of Otherworld books", Elphaba added, nervously tapping her toes.

"Ah, I see, Miss Elphaba, yes, I do believe there are some more Otherworld books around besides the one you mentioned, but let me have a look."

The librarian disappeared between the shelves and Elphaba followed him eagerly.

"There we are, this is all the Otherworld literature we have, I hope you can find something, dear."

"Thank you", Elphaba sputtered, already flying over the book titles.

There were at least two dozen Otherworld books and Elphaba was determined to search through them all in order to find something about the desired topic.

She took the first book down and flipped through the pages.

From the words of it, they didn't seem to say anything that was of importance to her so she put it away again and took the next book.

Suddenly, she heard a well-known voice next to her.

"Mind if I join you?"


	16. December 17th

**A/N: So sorry again, for missing a day, I literally fell asleep while writing, this has been quite a stressful two weeks for me :/**

Elphaba nearly dropped the book she had been holding.

"In Oz' name, Fiyero, is this going to become a habit of yours? You scared the living daylights out of me!"

"I'm sorry, you're just always so engulfed in those books, I really don't know how else to approach you."

He looked a little sheepish and Elphaba felt herself blush ever so slightly.

This was a pesky new habit of hers!

"Well, do you need any help with the books now?", Fiyero asked and Elphaba focused back on the problem at hand.

"Indeed, I need to work through every single ones of these books to find out more about a holiday called Christmas."

"What-mas?"

"Christmas. It seems to be an otherworldly celebration that is strikingly similar to Lurlinemas.

In fact, someone who doesn't know much about Lurlinemas traditions, probably won't even recognise the difference."

"This sounds like it could work. What are the required customs?"

"So far I have found out that there are specific ornaments as well, a Christmas tree, for instance, and 'mistletoe', the equivalent to the Ozian snow trumpets.

And one gives presents to each other on Christmas Day as well."

"What about the food?"

"I haven't found anything very specific yet so I suppose we can act a little more freely on that subject."

"So what is the plan then?"

Elphaba realised that she hadn't really thought about an actual plan yet, it was more of an idea so far.

"We could...have a Christmas Ball, instead of the cancelled Lurlinemas Ball."

She paused, before carefully adding, "without Madame Morrible knowing about it."

Fiyero laughed a little.

"Oh my, Elphaba Thropp, what are these rebellious plans I'm witnessing here?"

She gave him a swat on the arm.

"Don't mock me! I'm just not really used to breaking the rules, except for that one time, you know, the lion cub", she admitted and he smiled warmly.

"That was pretty freaky, yet adorable, to be honest."

Elphaba tried to ignore the strong palpitation that followed his sentence.

"I am many things but 'adorable' certainly isn't one of them", she said non-chalantly and fiddled around with the book in her hands.

"Anyway, we need to think of a way to lure Madame Morrible away on the day before the ball and get her to stay away until the day after it."

"What about the other teachers?"

"Believe me, they are about as fond of the dear headmistress as any of us."

"Well then, get the old fish out of the way and we should be set."

"Easier to say than to do. But what you can do is starting to spread the news around the students.

Make sure the suck ups don't go running to Madame Morrible ratting us out.

Don't even hesitate to threaten them, noting can keep this ball from happening anymore!"

"I must say, I'm really into your new revolutionary attitude. You should break the rules more often."


	17. December 18th

"Oh, this is just wonderful!"

Glinda was beaming as she dragged a somewhat terrified Fiyero after her on the thickly frozen lake near the town.

They had agreed to flee from all the pre-Lurlinemas stress and go on an ice skating date.

Fiyero had protested but Glinda had, as always, won the argument.

Trembling, he now set foot on the frozen water.

To his surprise, he didn't land flat on his face right away, he attempted to walk on the ice and managed to shakily glide a few metres before he ungracefully fell on his behind.

"Ow!", he yelped and Glinda skated to his side immediately, helping him up again.

"Are you all right?"

"I am, but I tell you, I'm not made for the ice and snow, so much is sure."

As if to prove his point he started to flail about with his arms, losing his balance and falling again.

"Ow!"

After a couple more falls and a fair amount of cursing, Fiyero demanded a break.

They sat on the margin of the lake and watched the busy bustling on the sleeky surface.

"You'll get the hang of it eventually", Glinda assured her boyfriend but Fiyero wasn't listening to her.

"Fiyero, what is it?"

She followed his gaze and discovered the source of his distraction.

In a notable distance, amongst the various booths and snack stands, there was a cart with a handwritten sign on it that read 'Antique Books'.

Fiyero pointed at his feet.

"Do you mind if I take these death traps off for a while and go look about the booths for a moment? It won't take long, you can wait here."

"But what do you want to go to the booths for?"

"I think I've found the perfect present for Elphaba."

With that he freed himself from his ice skates and put on his walking shoes again.

Then he left Glinda sitting alone on the little bench.

Soon after Fiyero had left, Glinda was bored out of her mind - she wasn't used to sitting without anything to do for such a long time.

The 'moment' Fiyero had talked about was stretching forever.

She was listlessly clunking together her heals of her ice skates, making the vats sound a plinky noise every time metal met metal.

Then an idea struck her.

Why was she taking all these sorcery classes if she never used her powers for something useful?

She took the collapsible training wand out of her pocket, where she was carrying it at all times for emergencies.

The she started to think of a spell she could use that would provide her with some skating fun as long as Fiyero was absent.

"Maioram vitentia eis eis turnum sautis!"

Glinda felt her feet tingle and the ice skates vibrating lightly.

She got up and stepped on the icy surface od the lake.

The effects of the spell were immediately noticable.

Her gliding had become much faster and she slided backwards, occasionally working in some pirouettes effortlessly.

A nice spell!

But suddenly, after another pirouette, the vibration on her feet became stronger and stronger until it almost hurt Glinda.

Oh no, she thought, what did I do wrong this time?

But she hadn't really got any more time to think about the answer to this question as her skates ran wild.

She slithered across the lake in a breakneck speed, furiously performing pirouettes and jumps that made the people watching her go dizzy.

But the spectators didn't suspect anything unusual, they admired Glinda's obviously professional skills and commented on her increasingly dangerous maneuvers with assorted 'Ohh's and 'Ahh's.

No one heard Glinda's desperate calls over the speed she had obtained now, the vats cutting deeper and deeper into ice layer on the lake the faster she went.

"Help me!", she screamed, "the ice is going to break!"

But the audience was so mesmerised by the show, nobody took notice of the danger at hand.

Except for one person who came running along the rim of the lake, shouting Glinda's name.


	18. December 19th

"Miss Glinda, Miss Glinda!"

Through all the whirling of airstream around her head, it was hard for Glinda to recognise the voice but as she did, she wasn't so sure if it was better breaking her neck on the ice or giving in to the mortification of getting saved by _Boq_.

Wasn't there anyone else willing to help her?

Where was her boyfriend when she needed him?

She started to feel nauseous because of all the spinning and blurry landscape flashing in front of her eyes and slowly she came to the conclusion that she didn't really care who exactly saved her as long as someone would make this hell ride stop.

"I'm going to get you!", she heard Boq shout in her direction when she came close to where he was standing.

"Help me!", she shouted back demandingly, before the charmed ice skates made her lunge in the air again.

She felt the ice cave in slightly under the force of her jump and started silently pleading that she wouldn't have to die in this ridiculous manner.

Her limbs were uncontrollably flailing to all sides and she wondered how she had even been able to stand upright for so long.

The wand had long since fallen out of her pocket so she couldn't even try to change the spell and save herself.

However, just as Glinda was about to give up, she felt herself being swept off of her feet and the sudden stop of her movement caused the environment to spin around her so fast she thought she would throw up.

The magicked ice skates were still moving her feet and legs, but since they were held up in the air, they couldn't do any harm anymore.

Glinda closed her eyes and let herself being carried away, not even thinking about who had saved her.

"Are you all right, Miss Glinda?", a nasal voice asked caringly as someone was taking the cursed shoes off of her feet.

She opened her eyes and to her terror, it really had been Boq who had carried her off the ice.

"Boq! How did you even manage to catch me at this speed?"

"I watched the pattern of the skates and they kind of hurled you in my arms as soon as I stood in the right place."

"You saved my life, Boq", Glinda noted somewhat perplexed and quickly added, "I most certainly owe you a favour now."

* * *

><p>Boq smiled.<p>

How ironic that this fateful event happened just at the right time for him.

There no longer was a need for him to trick Glinda into going to the ball with him, she would happily agree to go with him now if he asked her.

"In fact, I'd already know something to ask you for", he said smiling and he observed Glinda trying to keep her face straight.

She cleared her throat.

"Yes?"

"I'd like to invite you to go to the Lurlinemas, no excuse me, _Christmas_ Ball with me."

Incredulous, Glinda stared at him.

"I- I'm already invi..."

Her expression slipped into something desperate and she looked at him with a crooked smile.

"Actually, I haven't been invited yet. So, since you saved my life and I obviously owe you something, I'll be going...to the ball with you, Boq."


	19. December 20th

To say that Fiyero was enraged when Glinda told him about the unfortunate event at the lake, was an understatement.

Glinda excused herself several times.

"You see, it's just that I _had_ to say yes! Not only that he saved my life, but I didn't really _have_ a date yet, you never actually asked me out!"

"Excuse me, when I think it is obvious that my girlfriend will go to a stupid ball with me!", Fiyero ranted, eyebrows scrunched into a displeased glare.

"But I really had no choice!", Glinda tried to justify herself.

"It's not exactly your fault, it's this Boq who took advantage of your state of helplessness and outright forced you to be his date!"

"I'm not very happy about this, either, believe me, but I fear there is nothing to be done."

"Fine, then I'll ask Elphaba to go to the ball with me."

There was a sudden silence in which Glinda looked at her boyfriend with disbelieving eyes.

"You will do _what_?!"

"I think it's only fair. You'll go with Boq, there's nothing to be done about this, apparently. So I'm dateless. I suppose Elphaba is, too. If I go with her, none of us go alone and we can all have a nice evening."

Glinda snorted.

"Nice is not something I associate with an evening spent with Boq. But well, go ask Elphaba, I don't care. It's not like it's going to be an official date anyways, is it?"

Fiyero thought about that for a second.

His initial response would have been 'Why not?', but the rational part of his brain told him that this wouldn't have been an answer an already distraught girlfriend would have wanted to hear.

"Of course not", he replied then, even though he was in fact wondering what a 'real' date with Elphaba would be like.

* * *

><p>"So how is it, Thropp, are you going to the ball with me?"<p>

Elphaba turned her head around slowly, as if she wasn't sure what she was expecting to see.

"Why would you want to go to the ball with _me_?! Aren't you going with Glinda? You didn't have a fight, did you?"

A miffed expression crossed Fiyero's face as he answered, "No, not exactly."

When Elphaba gave him a questioning look, he continued elaborating what had happened earlier that day.

"...so now she's going to the ball with Boq and I'm the third wheel."

"So you thought you'd use me as a cheap fill-in, since no one asked me out anyways?"

Fiyero lunged forward and casually took Elphaba's hand.

"Oh, oh, no, that's not at all what I wanted to imply with that!"

When he noticed that Elphaba had stiffened he let her hand drop as if he had burned himself.

An awkward silence developed, as it did so often between the two of them ever since the strange incident with the lion cub.

Elphaba cleared her throat.

"Well...what _did_ you want to imply?"

Fiyero looked at her for what seemed like an eternity and Elphaba could feel her heart thump against the inside of her chest.

"What I so rudely expressed earlier was nothing other than an attempt to say that I would be more than delighted if you spent the evening of the Christmas Ball with me."

"I still don't believe that you're not just using me as the rebound girl because your girlfriend ditched you for a Munchkin."

"How can I convince you that I'm honestly interested in going out with you?"

There was something in the way he said this that made Elphaba start to take his plea more seriously.

But as soon as she let herself believe him, a sense of guilt came gnawing at her conscience.

After all, Glinda was her best friend and she couldn't betray her.

Still, it was Glinda who was going to the ball with another boy, so why shouldn't she go with Fiyero?

"Fine, I want you to answer one simple question. Completely honest, no sugarcoating or flatteries to get me to go out with you."

Fiyero nodded.

"Given that Glinda wasn't your girlfriend, would you have asked me to go to the ball with you? Don't just answer, think about it and tell me the truth, would you have asked me out?"

She looked at Fiyero sternly, hoping he wouldn't notice how shaky she had become.

He met her eyes with a serious expression, no smile or mischief underneath.

"Yes."

Nothing else but a simple 'yes'.

Baffled, Elphaba stared at him.

His answer had been sincere, she had felt it in her heart.

Once again she cleared her throat.

"I suppose we will attend the ball together then."


	20. December 21st

"So this was the last class for this semester, girls, hope to see you fresh and motivated after the winter holidays."

That you almost ruined, Glinda thought teeth-gnashingly as she exited Madame Morrible's classroom alongside Elphaba.

"Sweet Oz, I am _so_ glad we don't have anymore classes for a while!", she exclaimed once they were out of the headmistress' earshot.

"Really? I thought you could do well with some more classes, so you don't kill yourselve on magicked ice skates or make the roof of the school collapse on us", Elphaba teased her friend as they were walking down the corridor to the common room.

A pained expression appeared on Glinda's face, which made Elphaba laugh.

"Don't worry, you'll practise."

Elphaba stopped and took something out of her bag.

"To ensure the practise, I snagged something for you."

Glinda recognised the spell book they were learning from in Madame Morrible's tutorial.

"You did _what_?"

"I took it. Thought this might come in handy at some point."

Glinda gave her friend an appreciating glance.

"Look at you, being not as well behaved as I thought."

"Why does everyone keep being so surprised when I'm breaking the rules?"

"Er, because you are every teacher's darling? Because you study every hour of the day and because you're the best student at Shiz?"

Elphaba huffed indignantly.

"That doesn't mean I can't do something daring now and then, does it? Besides, the more you are loved by the teachers, the more easily you can get away with disregarding the rules."

"Maybe I should make myself more popular with the teachers so I can get away with my little mishaps, too."

"Oh, I'd really like to see that."

A little while later, Glinda was brooding over the spellbook, trying to find something that would finally help her get an idea for Elphaba's Lurlinemas present.

She had been trying to come up with something for days now and she was still determined to find something better than a simple book for her best friend.

Although Glinda was always fascinated with how excited Elphaba could get about books.

Just taking her discovery of the Otherworld books for example, she had been on fire as soon as she had figured out where they had come from.

An idea formed in Glinda's mind and she flipped through the pages of the spell book faster now, concentrating on finding a specific word.

Seconds later she turned a page over and stopped.

This was it.

The perfect present for Elphaba.


	21. December 22nd

Glinda pulled out the collapsible wand, a new one that had replaced the one she had lost on the lake, and started mumbling the words of the spell.

"What are you doing?"

Scared to death, Glinda turned around to face Fiyero who had approached her so silently she hadn't even noticed him.

"You are not doing what I think you're doing, are you?"

"Well, I- uhm, what did you think I was doing?", Glinda asked innocently and tried to slip the wand under the table.

"You were doing magic again! Do you want to kill us all?"

"Hey!"

"Come on, judging from the last two spells gone wrong it's not so far-fetched that your magicking is rather life threatening, am I right?"

"Maybe", Glinda snapped, but she knew that her last two attempts at sorcery had indeed ended quite dreadfully.

"All right, fine, I won't do magic for Elphie's present, but I had such a good idea!"

"Which was?"

"A journey to the Otherworld."

Fiyero tried to say something but he was so baffled the words couldn't come out.

After a while he had caught himself again and he said, "I'm glad I interfered at the point I did."

"But it was the perfect present!"

Glinda was in a huff.

"How had you even planned to accomplish this?"

"There is a spell for it in this book here."

She pointed to the spell book on the table in front of her.

"Glinda, look how far in the back this spell is, I bet it's a really hard one!"

"Could be."

"And you probably don't even know how to pronounce all of it right, do you?"

"Could be?"

"So why in Oz did you decide to try it?"

Fiyero really couldn't get behind Glinda's antics sometimes.

"I just wanted to give Elphie the best present ever! Not something as simple as a book."

"Glinda, I might not know a lot about all this Lurlinemas nonsense but I have learned something about gift-giving.

The best presents aren't the pompous or 'perfect' ones, you have to find something that comes from your heart, something that is just right for the person you're giving it to. And a book, for example, is just right for Elphaba, because she can never ever have enough of them. But of of course it doesn't _have_ to be a book, just try to think of something that tells you she'd like it."

Glinda looked at her boyfriend bewilderedly, she wasn't used to him holding such monologues or saying something with so much meaning to it.

"This is great advice", was all she could say.

"I have to admit, this was Elphaba's advice."

"Well, that explains it, doesn't it?"

Laughing, Glinda shut the spellbook and put the wand in her pocket.

Her friends were right, she probably would only have caused the next catastrophe with her meager sorcery skills.

Now she only had to find out, what her heart told her was the right present for Elphaba.


	22. December 23rd

"Tell me again why I'm doing this."

"Because you want to go to this stupid ball, too?"

The Thropp sisters were on their way to Madame Morrible's office, ready to set their plan of luring the headmistress away into action.

"Come in", the teacher's authoritative voice sounded from inside once they stood in front of the door.

Elphaba pushed Nessa's wheelchair inside and closed the door behind her.

"The Thropp sisters, how lovely", Madame Morrible said in a honeyed voice and rose from behind her desk.

"How may I help you, my pretties?"

Elphaba nudged her sister's shoulder.

"We came here with an important message", Nessa began, giving her best to sound official.

"From our father", Elphaba added and silently pleaded that her plan would pan out.

"Aha, the Govenour has a message for me and how come he didn't contact me directly?"

A short pause developed and Elphaba tried to frantically think of an explanation.

"He's impassible at the moment, Madame, insofar, that he can't face the public, if you understand", she stated and hoped that the headmistress would swallow the difuse elaboration.

"Impassible, I see", Madame Morrible muttered.

"And what kind of part do I play in this business?"

"He asked you to visit him, because...he needs you to, er, carry out an important task", Nessa explained bouncily and the two girls observed the headmistress eyes grow narrow.

"And why would he need _me_ of all people?"

"Oh, the letter didn't say that, Madame", Elphaba jumped in before Nessa would be stammering another suspicous sentence.

"It just said that the matter was of utter urgence and it couldn't wait."

"Well, doesn't the Governor know that I have a school to run and cannot simply drop everything because he needs a favour?! Not to mention the fact that Lurlinemas is coming up in two days!"

It did not look too well for their plan.

"There will be payment, of course", Nessa said all of a sudden and Madame Morrible's eyes bore into hers.

"Payment?"

"Why certainly! I don't know how that could have slipped my mind, our father will pay you duly and come up for all your travel expenses. But, just to stress the urgency of this errand, you will have to leave today to make it in time! Father explicitly pointed that out."

"Oh, why, then I have to pack and order a carriage _at once_! Hush, hush, girls, I must get ready for the journey!"

"But Madame, one thing more to add, you do not have to order a carriage, Father has sent someone to fetch you this afternoon!"

Moments later, the Thropp girls found themselves on the corridor again and grinned at each other.

"This has worked splendidly so far! That greedy old fisheye would do anything for a bit of extra money, wouldn't she?"

The plan Elphaba had developed with her friends included the forged invitation by the governor and making sure the headmistress had to turn around halfway because of an obstacle on the road, alltogether giving them two days on which the Christmas Ball would take place and there was enough time left afterwards to clean up everything before Madame Morrible arrived back.

To ensure credibility and a rather sluggish progress of the journey, Fiyero had contacted Avaric, his servant and friend, to play the part of the Governor's employee.

He would make sure that after exactly one day's journey there would be a fallen tree blocking the road and that there was no choice but to turn around.

The details of how exactly this would go down, Fiyero and Avaric had cleared on there own, while Elphaba and Nessarose had worked on their speech for Madame Morrible.

* * *

><p>In the evening, the headmistress had finally taken off and everyone was excited as ever, partly because of the impending festivities, partly because they were anxious if the plan of the false invitation would work out as planned.<p>

Students were carrying boxes of gold and green ornaments into the dining hall, traditional Lurlinemas colours.

"Oh, I wish we could really celebrate Christmas and not only call it that because of some silly forbiddance", Elphaba sighed and put the Snow Trumpets up again, this time cautious not to step under one with Fiyero, who was handing her ornaments.

"It would surely be something different."

"Or not so different at all, the customs seemed pretty similar from what I read in the books."

"So we could keep Lurlinemas after all?"

Fiyero was smiling.

"You're not making much sense just now."

"It's just, this whole discovery of Otherworld literature has got me thinking", Elphaba said.

"I wonder if it actually exists, you know? If we could really go there and celebrate Christmas and be part of it all."

"Maybe you should consult Glinda about that", Fiyero mumbled, a wary look to his eyes.

"Glinda? What does she know about crossing realms?", Elphaba laughed.

"Probably less than she thought she did."

"Now you're the one not making much sense."

"And you are, Miss Elphaba, standing under a Snow Trumpet."

"Oh no."


	23. December 24th

**A/N: Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day ;) And apogies in advance for any plotholes/illogical things that might occur in this chapter. Please bear in mind that this story has been planned rather hastily at the beginning of the month. Also thank you with putting up with me for so long, I hope you enjoyed my little advent calendar at least a little bit. The last part will of course follow tomorrow.**

On the night of the ball, a harsh wind was blowing around the castle's walls hurling snow flakes against the windows and making every student glad they were inside the warmly glowing dining hall.

Music was played by a little student orchestra and the food was served by the cooks of Shiz who were always happy to help the students out.

When Glinda entered on Boq's arm, careful not to touch more of him than was necessary, all the heads in the hall turned.

Glinda gave her best to smile happily but it was visible that she didn't feel very comfortable.

"I'll be going to fetch us some refreshments", Boq announced and let go of his date.

Then, another pair entered and the students' heads turned once again.

Fiyero more or less dragged Elphaba into the room and she tried to hide behind him but didn't succeed.

Her shimmering dress caught every eye in the room.

"They're all looking at us", she murmured nervously and held on tightly to Fiyero's arm.

"I don't believe they are looking at _us_, Elphie."

Elphaba blushed and quickly hurried to where Glinda was standing with Boq.

"Good evening", the blonde uttered, seemingly unnerved.

"Whatever is the matter with you?"

"I'm here with _Boq_, remember? Also, you are here with my boyfriend."

"Bad luck", Fiyero said empathically and went to get drinks for him and Elphaba as well.

"You look magnificent, though", Glinda rejoiced once they were by themselves and Elphaba had to smile.

"Thank you, I probably wouldn't even have attended the ball if not for you."

"I just wish I wouldn't have to be here with this Munchkin boy. Why did he and Nessa even have a fight?"

"If I remember correctly, it was because she found out he had bought a present for you."

"He...did?"

"Be nice to him, Boq isn't all that bad of a boy."

"Maybe you're right", Glinda replied hesitantly and when Boq returned with their beverages, she gave him a genuine smile.

"He will be the happiest little Munchkin that there ever was", Fiyero said into Elphaba's ear and handed her a glass of punch.

"Jealous much?"

"Oh, not really, he's not really much of a rival to be honest. Besides, I get to dance with you tonight."

"And you really think this is something positive?"

"We shall see, if you please?"

He bowed down slightly and offered her his hand.

"Fiyero, I don't dance."

He remained in his pose and pulled his eyebrows up.

"Ever."

"You have done some fair dancing at the Ozdust Ballroom, if I remember correctly."

"Oh please don't remind me of that night."

"Come on, one dance!"

"Fine, you annoying little Winkie."

With that Elphaba took Fiyero's hand and let herself be swooped on the dancefloor.

As they were gently swaying from side to side, Elphaba still felt a lot of eyes resting on her.

"They're still staring."

"Let them, just ignore it, you're looking gorgeous."

"I, uhm...thank you. But I think they're staring because I'm here with _you_."

Fiyero looked at her like it was the first time he had heard of this idea.

"Why would they...oh. Well, I can't help it, Glinda wanted to go with someone else."

"You know that this is not exactly what happened."

"I do know that it led to us dancing together so it's fine with me."

Elphaba decided that it was no use arguing with him about the fact that he enjoyed being with her more than with the girl he called his girlfriend.

The only thing she couldn't ignore was that the same girl was the one she called her best friend.

And she couldn't stab her in the back like that so she promised herself to enjoy this one evening with Fiyero as much as she could and to forget about her feelings afterwards. They weren't in place here.

Meanwhile, Boq had asked Glinda for a dance as well and albeit somewhat reluctantly, she had accepted his offer.

"You look exceptionally beautiful tonight, Miss Glinda."

"Thank you, Boq. Besides, there is no need to call me 'Miss' all the time, Glinda will do just fine."

"Oh, of course."

"So, how are things going with Nessa, I heard you two had a fight?"

"Yes, there was a slight...misunderstanding."

"Was there? Well, I think you should apologise. It might look bad, you going to the ball with me. I'm sure it bothers her to see you here with me. Girls tend to not showing that they're jealous but we really are quite often."

"Are you jealous too? Of Miss Elphaba I mean. Her going with Fiyero?"

Glinda glanced over to where her friends were dancing together.

"I...I don't really know. It was kind of my fault that they went together but...now that you say it..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset!"

Glinda shook her head.

"You didn't, really, it's just- Fiyero has been so different lately, I don't quite recognise him anymore. Ever since Doctor Dillamond left, he's so...pensive."

She pulled a face.

"Huh, I never quite thought I would be describing _Fiyero_ with a word like pensive."

In the very next moment, a loud gasp went through the crowd.

The music stopped and the students parted, enabling Glinda the sight on the one person she did not at all want to see standing there in this moment.

Madame Morrible.

"Who is responsible for this?!", she yelled, with a booming voice and almost steaming with anger.

It was dead silent in the hall and the students looked at each other with terror.

There would be consequences for this.

"I thought I has explicitly forbidden the celebration of the Lurlinemas Ball", Madame Morrible roared.

Glinda locked eyes with Elphaba.

The green girl had a determined expression on her face.

"This isn't a Lurlinemas Ball, Madame", she began, holding her breath when the headmistressed turned around and pierced her with a glare.

"Then. What. _Is_. It?! In the name of Oz, do not lie to my face!"

"I'm not, Madame. This is a Christmas Ball, not a Lurlinemas Celebration."

"And what exactly do you think, _Elphaba Thropp, _is a 'Christmas'?!_"_

Elphaba smiled ever so slightly before explaining, "Christmas is a winter celebration of the Otherworld. It is similar to Lurlinemas but it is, in fact, not the same thing. You can't punish us for celebrating Christmas."

Elphaba's backtalk was bold and one could feel the air in the room crackle with tension.

Madame Morrible seemed a tad confused, but she caught herself quickly.

"Fine, I will not punish the student body for celebrating Christmas, whatever the sense behind it might be.

_But_, and I will say this only once, I will punish the person who had the audacity to send me on a forged trip to Munchkinland. And am I right with the assumption that this particular person would be you, Miss Thropp?"

How had she even noticed that the trip wasn't real?

Had something gone wrong?

Elphaba couldn't think of a way to get out of this situation so she accepted her fate and nodded slowly.

"This will have consequences, Miss Thropp.

If you remember, I have told you very clearly that to reach such a high goal as meeting the Wizard of Oz himself, you would have to show exuberantly well behaviour. And this is something I consider, well, how to put it nicely, a _deal-breaker. _

You shall herbybe no longer permitted to study sorcery under my watch and therefore, your plans to meet the Wizard are cancelled."

The words felt like a slap in Elphaba's face.

She had worked so hard!

And now all her ambitions had be in vain!

How had she ever thought this little party would be better than getting to meet the Wizard?

How foolish of her!

Once again, all eyes rested on Elphaba, but this time they were amused, almost gloating.

How had she ever considered this more important than her long intended goal?

"Don't punish her, Madame Morrible. This was my idea. Entirely. Elphaba has had nothing to do with it."

_Glinda_.

"Miss Upland, how self-sacrificing. Do you, in all honesty, think I'd fall for this?"

"But it's true! I pressured Elphaba into luring you away so we could have this party. She is only trying to protect me from more trouble."

"So, if your little cover story is true, I'm sure you won't mind if I throw you off the sorcery tutorial instead then."

"If you choose this to be my punishment, I will accept it, on the condition that you keep Elphaba in the tutorial and let her meet the Wizard."

Elphaba's heart was beating horrendously fast.

Why was Glinda doing this?

"If you wish", Madame Morrible spat, contemptously chuckling.

"Elphaba will stay in the tutorial while your career in sorcery has ended here and now. You never had much talent for it anyways."

"Thank you, Madame."

"No need to thank me, Miss Thropp, thank your incredibly blonde roommate.

And make sure to clean up this hall _at once _if you want to keep your spot in the tutorial after all.To all of you, if this dining hall isn't spotless at midnight, everyone will be marked down for the semester, no matter what year or class you're in!"

With that, the headmistress exited the hall and left behind a cloud of glumness that laid itself over the students who slowly started putting away the decorations.

This hadn't exactly been how they imagined the evening of Lurlinemas to go down.


	24. December 25th

**A/N: So, today there is the last part :) I really hope you enjoyed my story and it wasn't too cliché or predictable :D**

**~Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 3**

The remaining part of the evening went rather quiet and most of the students had left the hall around midnight, when Madame Morrible came back to inspect the cleaning progress.

She watched the remaining group of students, consisting of Elphaba, Glinda, Fiyero, Nessa and Boq like a hawk until every last bit of decoration had been put back in its box.

Resigned, the five walked back to their rooms.

"You know what?", Glinda said when they were all standing in front of her and Elphaba's dorm room.

"It's well after midnight, why don't we celebrate Lurlinemas now?"

The other four blinked at her for a moment, then they eagerly agreed.

"Yes, it will surely lift our spirits!"

Shortly after they were gathered in the Thropp-Upland dorm room, each with their neatly wrapped presents.

Fiyero went first and took the most oddly looking gift from his pile.

"What is this?"

"Open it", Elphaba spluttered a little too fast.

"I take it, this is from you then?", he smirked and untied the ribbon.

When he took the paper away, he revealed a little flowering pot.

"A cactus?"

He stared at the little plant for a moment and then he burst into laughter.

"That is great! How in Oz did you get the idea of giving me a cactus?"

"I don't know, it reminded me of you a little. And of our relationship. Just...a cactus seemed fitting."

"It is a brilliant gift, thank you, Elphaba."

Next, Nessa opened her gift from Boq.

It was the necklace she had caught him buying.

"Are you just giving this to me so I'm not mad at you anymore?"

"No, I'd like to think it was meant to be your present all along. After all, I bought it for someone special."

Boq smiled apologetically and prayed for Nessa to accept his peace offering.

He had had the lovely evening with Glinda and that should be enough for him for now.

"Apology accepted", Nessa smiled and put the necklace around her neck.

Elphaba took the present that looked most as if it had been wrapped by Fiyero.

It turned out to be a book.

But not just any book.

"It's a copy of 'A Christmas Carol'! Wherever did you get that, I thought they only had Otherworld books in libraries!"

"There was an antique bookseller at the lake, and when I took a look at the books he offered, I found the one you've been reading, you know..."

"It is perfect, thank you!"

Then Glinda unwrapped her present from Elphaba and almost squealed when she discovered the filigrane flacon.

"Oh, Elphie, thank you, it's beautiful! Now I..."

She suddenly grew quiet.

"Now I feel bad I couldn't get you a present anymore."

"But Glinda, you already gave me the perfect present!"

"I...I did?"

Glinda was most confused.

"You stepped in for me and let yourself be kicked out of the sorcery tutorial even though you didn't have to! It was the best Lurlinemas present I could have asked for!"

Glinda's eyes lit up.

"The perfect present?"

"The perfect present."

"Oh thank Oz, I was really worried for a second."

"Just so you know, though, even if you hadn't done this, having you people as my friends is an amazing present by itself."

"I start to think this celebration isn't so horrible after all", Fiyero said.

"Happy Lurlinemas everybody."

"Happy Lurlinemas!"


End file.
